What kind of people were to be found in religious houses, and how did they spend their day? Any attempt to answer that question must bear in mind some fundamental points. For most monks and nuns the basis of their working life was the Rule of St Benedict, but Britain in the period covered by this study is far removed, chronologically and geographically, from Benedict's own monastery of Monte Cassino, for which the Rule was written. Even in the houses we call Benedictine (though this was not a term used at the time) modifications and alterations had taken place in monastic life and observances by the eleventh century. We must remember, too, that much of the documentation we have gives us details of theory: it is evidence of legislation, not necessarily of practice.

DAILY LIFE AND WORSHIP

In his rule Benedict devised for his monks a careful, rigid and, to modern perceptions, monotonous routine of work, prayer, study and sleep, designed to subdue the flesh and the will and to make the mind and the soul receptive to God. The overwhelming monastic concern was with the self, however much the world might benefit from the monks' intercessions. The pattern of the day, in which every minute was accounted for, varied only according to the seasons of the year and the liturgical calendar.